The present disclosure is generally related to operation and management of printer output devices such as printers, copiers, facsimile machines and the like in networked printing environments where users submit print jobs to one of a number of printer devices connected to a network. Businesses, universities, government agencies and other large enterprises often network large numbers of personal computers and printers together, allowing users to print to different printer devices based on print job characteristics, printer device capabilities, proximity of a given user to certain printers, and other factors. Distributed computing and printing enterprise architectures provide economic advantages by allowing direction of individual print jobs to the suitable printer with the lowest cost while also maximizing printer device utilization. In addition, networked printer systems can provide redundancy for situations in which one or more printer devices are off-line for servicing or where a given printer is occupied by a very large print job. The costs associated with operating and maintaining large numbers of networked printers, however, can be large, and IT personnel or other staff are commonly tasked with ordering supplies, calling for outside printer maintenance, connecting new users to appropriate printers, setting local printer selection default settings on user computers according to location, printer load balancing, and other considerations.
In many networked printing environments, the various printer management functions are conventionally performed in an ad hoc manner, often using incomplete or unavailable printer utilization data, leading to inefficiencies and added costs for operating print output devices in a networked enterprise. One such management task is optimizing asset usage to maximize the utilization of multi-function printer devices while minimizing the average distance from users to printers, along with decommissioning personal printer devices or printers used by only a small number of users. Other printer management functions include redirection of print jobs to suitable alternative printers when the default or selected printer device is busy or unavailable. Also, new or roaming users must be operatively connected to appropriate printer devices through configuration of print drivers and default printer selections as user equipment is added or moved within the enterprise. As the output printer needs of users expand and as the size networked computing environments increases, there is a need for improved printer device management systems and techniques to ensure continued or improved printer utilization and cost efficiency.